Pouya Jahanshahi is an Iranian-born graphic designer and scholar, currently an associate professor of graphic design and the coordinator of the MFA in graphic design program at Oklahoma State University. Jahanshai’s current exhibition, “Liminal Poetry,” is on display at the Clayton Staples Gallery on the second floor of the McKnight Art Center. He will give an artist talk at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27 in 210 McKnight, with a reception following from 2 to 2:30 p.m. on the second floor of McKnight.
Pouya Jahanshai migrated from Tehran, Iran as a result of the Iran-Iraq War, first to London and then to Los Angeles. He earned his MA at California State University, Fullerton, with a focus on the “anatomy of a visual message” and the realm of semiotics. He received his MFA in graphic design and integrated media from the California Institute of the Arts, where he focused on the global development of what he as termed “hybrid visual cultures” — where cross-pollination of cultures has resulted in the birth of new visual realms.
While working with a broad range of cultural organizations and clientele, he is the co-founder of Pasaj Collaborative and Local-Not-Local art and design collaboratives, and his 20×20 Posters for Peace collection is currently being exhibited internationally. When time permits, he pursues his hobbies of Persian calligraphy, silkscreening and concrete poetry.